Thread: Court bars English-only referendum; mayor to turn to high co

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ... pnewjersey

Bogota focus campaign page.
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=39380

Court bars English-only referendum; mayor to turn to high court

By TOM HESTER Jr.
Associated Press Writer

September 22, 2006, 5:04 PM EDT

BOGOTA, N.J. -- An appeals court has upheld a decision barring the borough from asking voters if English should be the town's official language.

Mayor Steve Lonegan, who has been pushing the November referendum, said he would ask the state Supreme Court on Monday to overturn the ruling, which was issued without explanation on Friday afternoon. The brief ruling upheld the decision and said a written opinion would follow.

"This is shocking to me," Lonegan said. "This has become purely an issue of voter rights versus a politically correct court."

The ruling upheld a decision by a Superior Court judge who last week refused to overturn Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan's rejection of the referendum.

Donovan contended the ballot question was improper because Bogota lacked authority to make English its official language.

She relied on a legal opinion from attorney John Carbone, who determined the authority to decide an official language rests with either the federal or state government. He said Bogota would be acting unconstitutionally if it made English its official language.

"It is simply not in the purview of the municipality," Carbone said.

Lonegan, an unsuccessful 2005 Republican gubernatorial candidate, contends Bogota has authority to decide its own affairs. The question that he wanted to go to voters would have asked whether all borough business should be conducted in English unless otherwise required by either federal or state law.

Lonegan compared the referendum to a question asking whether the borough could buy fire trucks, but Carbone said that while the Legislature gives borough governments authority to ask such questions, it has never given them consent to adopt official languages.

"This is well beyond that," Carbone said.

The English-language dispute began when Lonegan demanded that a McDonald's in the town remove a Spanish billboard and replace it with an English one, but Lonegan said the referendum question dealt only with borough documents and business.

"This does not impact anyone's sign on their building or their free speech," Lonegan said, noting 27 states have adopted similar English-only measures.

The mayor contends English would unite the borough, but critics contend it would be divisive. The borough has about 8,200 residents, 21 percent of whom are Hispanic, according to the U.S. Census.

so having non-english speaking ppl not learning to speak english because they are catered to in their language is not divisive?? ha ha haha ha haha its not even funny

The mayor contends English would unite the borough, but critics contend it would be divisive.

The mayor is right, a common language unifies.